 If you've ever been really confused about how acupuncture actually works, because you've probably heard a bunch of different definitions and explanations for what it's really doing. In this video, I want to share a really powerful analogy that one of my mentors, a doctor, actually shared with me on what acupuncture is really doing. Hey, it's Alex Hine, author of the health book Master of the Day. And I've included down there below the first link is for a free case study. It's of this guy named Li Qingyun, who supposedly lived to be older than 100 years old, but he shared these four incredible practices he did daily in an interview with Time Magazine. So I included those in a little download, the first link right below this video. So what my mentor said to me was that acupuncture is a lot like a traffic inductor in New York City, where there's all these cars going all these different places, they're honking their horns, they're in a rush, they're trying to get from here to there, but the traffic inductor is saying, hey, let's actually generate some order here. You stop, you go, you go, you stop, you go, take your turn. So really, what he was talking about was that there are all these physiological processes going in your body. And if you think about having a headache, having maybe dysmenorrhea, maybe being constipated, and then maybe having other digestive problems, there's a lot going on. There are a lot of different physiological or pathological processes all at the same time. And the body is like the New York City traffic jam. There is stuff going up, stuff going down, stuff stuck in the middle. And then when you do acupuncture, what it's doing is it's giving your body a clear signal and a clear direction. So I view acupuncture as a method of redirecting three things in your body. It's redirecting, number one, your body's attention. Number two, it's redirecting your body's circulation. So the healing resources to actually restore physiology to that part of your body that's having problems. And then also hormones. So let's say you're, for example, someone has what we call spleen cheat efficiency, and you're having a lot of loose stools and bloating and low appetite, and you look as pale as I do and acupuncture for that patient. What it would do is it's helping your body to draw circulation back to what we consider the issues, which would be the spleen pancreas, the small intestine, and obviously the intestines. So you're actually drawing the body's attention back to say, you know, it's knocking on the door, hey, hello, anybody there? This is what we have to work on. It's bringing the attention back, it's bringing the circulation back. And usually where there's circulation and things are unblocked, there is a restoration of the physiological flow. So acupuncture works to unblock that traffic jam. And then to give your body a really, really clear impulse that, hey, this is what we have to do. This is where we should be putting our time and energy. You know, for many people and many illnesses, the reason for those issues and the reason for those problems is a lack of circulation. And so there's a famous Chinese saying that where there is no flow, there's pain. And where there's flow or opening, there's no pain. So the goal for many things is to restore physiological function by restoring circulation and your body's attention to that part of your body. So acupuncture, traffic conductor, airline, ATC person, whatever it's called, that's a useful metaphor to think about it. And that's also really important to know, because with sometimes really serious illness, or a person who's seriously run down, acupuncture may not be the most effective thing. It may be one tool, but Chinese formulas may be a lot more important because you need to add resources that then can be redirected. I hope that helps. I thought it was a really useful metaphor for my mentor, and it was something that really helped me. Again, before you go, I've included that free link below for Li Qingyun's four daily rituals to live to be over 100. It's a little case study or PDF I put together. First link in the description. Then before you go, I've included some similar videos on this exact topic right here.